The Purposes of Reading

As stated by Grellet (1992: 4), there are two purposes for reading viewed from the reason as follows:

1)   Reading for pleasure

2)   Reading for information (in order to find out something or in order to do something with the information the reader get).

In proposing reading, Wallace (1996: 6-7) adds three purposes. Those are:

1)   Reading for survival

2)   Reading for learning

3)   Reading for pleasure.

Davies (1995: 133-134) adds other purposes for reading, they are namely:

1)   Reading for pleasure

a)    To follow a narrative

b)   To enjoy the ‘sound’ and rhyme of a literary text

2)   Reading for a general impression

a)    To gain an idea of the writer’s viewpoint

b)   To gain an overall impression of the ‘tone’ of a text

c)    To decide whether or not to read the text

3)   Reading for organizing reading and study

a)    To identify the important content of a text

b)   To answer a specific question(s)

c)    To decide which selection of a text to a start studying

4)   Reading for learning content or procedures

a)    To gain an understanding of a new concepts

b)   To learn certain facts from a text

c)    To follow instruction

5)   Reading for learning language

a)    To translate the text, literally or metaphorically

b)   To learn new vocabulary

c)    To identify useful structures or collocation

d)   To use the text as a model for writing

e)    To practice pronunciation.

Another purpose for reading stated by Carnine, Silbert and Kameenui (1990: 45-46):

1)   To be able to identify and remember specific facts or a main idea

2)   To be able to follow instructions to reach a goal

3)   To enjoy

4)   To be able to explain the content of a passage to someone else

5)   To be able to accommodate the content into the reader’s schema

6)   To critique the logic or data presented in a passage

7)   To edit a passage according to stylistic and organizational criteria

8)   To study according to an assignment or test requirements.